SpaceX, Boeing, Sierra Nevada hit big in NASA sweepstakes

Elon Musk’s SpaceX snagged a $440 million NASA contract to design a manned spacecraft but the company wasn’t the only winner. Aeronautics heavyweight Boeing also got $440 million and Sierra Nevada received $212.5 million to build their own entries for the space launch sweepstakes known as NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Program (CCiCap).

The goal is to launch manned spacecraft from U.S. soil in the next five years, according to NASA.

With this contract, NASA, which no longer has the funds to build and field spacecraft and retired the space shuttle program after 30 years, provides seed money and expert help to these contractors. “We support them in developing these systems and to come up with some sort of design that will get people to and from the space station,” a NASA spokesman told me.

Other companies are working on a range of ancillary projects, including the design and construction of space hotels, etc., he said. All of this work — much of it now privately funded — could open up the realm of space travel to mere mortals.